But considering a third of what we send to the landfill could be recycled and another third could be composted, we’re not as diligent as we’d like to think.

Westlund said plastic items especially trip people up. Almost all plastics can be recycled with the exception of plastic bags, which get stuck in recycling sorting machinery, and Styrofoam. People’s most common composting mistakes include not tossing animal bones, milk cartons and coffee cups into the green bins.

But never fear – there’s help. The department’s Web-site has a cool “Ecofinder” tool, which is also available as an iPhone app. Enter an unwanted item you’re not sure about (yoga mats? tennis balls? toilets?) and your zip code, and it’ll tell you where you can dispose of it.

For the record, the SPCA takes old yoga mats to make medical exam tables less slippery for animals. A company called Rebounces gives dead tennis balls new life. And lots of places all over the Bay Area have found uses for old toilets. Really.